


like, in, say anything

by ptrprkrs



Series: rina week 2020 [2]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Promposal, rina week 2020, rinaweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ptrprkrs/pseuds/ptrprkrs
Summary: i’ll stand outside your doorand play songs on the radiolike ‘say anything’
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Series: rina week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742248
Comments: 12
Kudos: 43





	like, in, say anything

**Author's Note:**

> well rina nation im back! at this point, using song lyrics as fic titles is my brand and no one can convince me otherwise. enjoy my entry for day 2 bc ‘can i have this dance’ is rina’s song and _yes_ i do make the rules. 
> 
> title is from ‘say anything’ by girl in red if you didnt know

In hindsight, Ricky can see why anyone would not be the most enthusiastic about someone throwing rocks at their open window in the middle of the night, but, in his defense, how was he supposed to know Gina would leave her window open tonight?

“Ricky Bowen, what the _hell_ are you doing?” she whisper-yells, sticking her head out of her window. “Are you trying to _kill_ me?”

“ _No_! I was trying to be romantic!”

“ _Romantic_? You nearly took my head off!”

“You left your window open!” he shouted back. Aunt Debbie must not be home, otherwise he would have been chased away a long time ago for how loud they were being.

“Oh, so it’s _my_ fault? I’m sorry not _all_ of us have working air conditioners in our rooms!” Ricky sighs and throws his head back in exasperation, muttering something about how you do something sweet and this was how you were repaid, causing Gina to laugh loudly. “Yes, Ricky, it was _very_ sweet. Now, what are you doing here?”

_Finally_ , he thinks, _back on track_. “Carlos? _Really_?”

Gina can’t help the chuckle that escapes her, a smile dancing on her lips. “Carlos? Ricky, what are you talking about?”

“Prom!” he yells, throwing his arms up in the air.

It would probably be best if he were more specific, but a running theme when it came to talking to Gina was that Ricky was practically incapable of conveying a single coherent thought. He blames it on the fact that she has the audacity to just _show up_ and expect him to focus on anything but her. Rude, if you ask him.

The senior Prom was coming up, and for reasons unbeknownst to most of his class, the school had decided to make learning to waltz a compulsory activity for the evening.

All the dancers had been tasked with the difficult job of teaching them. All the dancers, including Gina and Carlos.

When it dawns on her what he’s referring to, Gina rolls her eyes and crosses her arms across her chest. “You’re kidding, right?”

“You said _you’d_ be the one teaching me, but then I check my emails tonight and I find out that _Carlos_ is?”

“First of all, those emails were sent _weeks_ ago—” Ricky waves her off with a mumbled “ _technicalities_ ”— “Secondly, what’s wrong with Carlos?”

“He’s not you,” he says matter-of-factly, shrugging noncommittally.

Gina’s face breaks out into a bright grin and Ricky almost forgets he’s supposed to be mad at her. “Valid,” she says with a slight head tilt, “but you know I don’t choose who I get assigned. That’d be a conflict of interest.”

Ricky smirks. “So, what I’m hearing is: you’re interested in me.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her childishly.

“I never said that,” Gina deadpans, rolling her eyes.

“Um, I’m pretty sure you did.”

“Oh, are you?—Wait, I’m sorry, is that a _boombox_?”

Ricky turns to his right, following Gina’s gaze to a spot on the grass next to him and, yeah, there was a boombox there. _Huh_ , he forgot about that. Again proving that Ricky was unable to keep the same thought process when Gina came to mind.

He looks back up at her again, standing in her room, the upper-half of her body sticking out her window. “Oh, yeah,” Ricky confirms. “Found it in the basement. I was going to stand out here and play you a song—”

“—Oh, like _Love Actually_?” she asks, head tilted.

Ricky’s face scrunches in confusion. “Huh? No, _Say Anything_.”

“Anything.”

“What? No? I mean the _movie_ is _Say Anything_.” Gina’s mouth forms an ‘O’ shape. “ _Love Actually_ ’s the one with the cards and Kiera Knightley.”

“The cards?” It was Gina’s turn to be confused.

Ricky shakes his head. “You know what, never mind. But we’re watching those movies.” She raises her hands in mock surrender. “ _Anyway_ , I was going to use the song to lure you outside, but I wasn’t sure if Aunt Debbie was home, so I scrapped that idea.”

Gina nods making an _ahh_ sound. “Right, and so _naturally_ you decided that _murdering_ me was the next best thing.” She’s smirking playfully, arms crossed and Ricky can’t stop looking at her.

He rolls his eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you that that’s not what was happening?”

She shrugs. “As many times as it takes for me to believe you.”

“Oh, so for the rest of eternity?”

“Makes it more fun that way.”

“Is Ashlyn home?”

Gina shakes her head. “No, she’s on a date. Wouldn’t tell me with who, though, but I’m pretty sure it’s Nini.”

Ricky tosses this idea around in his head for a bit. “Yeah, I see that. So, you’re home alone?”

“The whole house to myself, baby! _MTv Cribs_ hit me up.”

He beams. “Great! Come outside.”

“Bossy,” she mumbles, walking away from her window.

He bounces on the heels of his feet as he waits in the frontyard for her. She comes out of the house wearing a hoodie he’s pretty sure is his, sweats and slippers Big Red bought her.

“You know,” she starts, once she’s standing in front of him, “usually when people ask ‘ _hey! Are you home alone?_ ’ it’s because they want to be _in_ the house with the other person, _not_ to force them _outside_.”

Ricky smirks at her and shrugs. “I’m a respectful guy, Gina, I’d _never_ be in your house without parental supervision.”

She huffs out a breath and rolls her eyes dramatically. “You exhaust me, Bowen. You _exhaust_ me. You know that? I don’t think you know that, so I’m gonna tell you: you exhaust me.”

He gasps. “You don’t say.”

At her exasperated eyeroll, Ricky smiles brightly at her. “So now what?” she asks, putting her hands in the pockets of her (his) hoodie. He held out a finger to signal her to wait and she obliges.

Setting up a boombox is way harder than he anticipated, Ricky discovers, as he tries to get it playing. He’s successful eventually, and the soft instrumentals of _Can I Have This Dance_ disturb the somewhat quiet of the street.

“Ricky, what are you doing?”

“ _You_ ,” he says, as he grabs one of her hands and pulls her into him, “are teaching _me_ how to waltz.” He places her other hand on his shoulder and rests his free hand on her waist.

“Wait, right now?”

He nods, smile wide. “Right now.”

_Take my hand_

_Take a breath_

_Pull me close_

_Take one step_

“Nice song choice,” Gina says smiling up at him.

He can’t do anything but smile back, so much so that he misses his next step and bumps into her.

“Oh, shit, sorry!” He hopes upon hope that she can’t see how red his face is.

Gina waves him off. “It’s fine. I see now why you need those lessons,” she jokes.

Ricky feigns offence. “I am a _great_ dancer, thank you very much.”

“Oh, of course. You were just complaining about Carlos being your teacher and literally _walking into me_ for funsies, right?”

He ignores her obvious dig and says shrugging, “That was just an excuse to spend time with you.”

“Since when do you need an excuse?”

_And with every step together_

_We just keep on getting better_

“Ricky, no, it’s a box,” Gina explains when Ricky steps on her toes for the umpteenth time during their dance lesson.

“I thought it was a circle!”

“It’s a box _in_ a circle.”

“ _That just doesn’t make any sense_!”

_Don’t be afraid_

_Afraid to fall_

“It’s time for the dip, Gina!” he says excitedly, spinning her out then pulling her back in, so her back was pressed against his chest.

“Don’t you dare!”

“C’mon, Gi, _you know I’ll catch you through it all_ ,” he sings in time with Troy. She squeals as Ricky leans over and dips her back. He overestimated, though and lowers Gina too far back, so far that she tips over, bringing Ricky down on top of her.

He turns his face so that he’s looking at her. “Hi,” he says smiling bright.

Gina groans and says through a laugh, “Get off of me!”

Ricky hums in thought. “I don’t know, Gi. I’m pretty comfortable down here.” He flashes her a cheeky grin.

_‘Cause my heart is_

_Wherever you are_

“Hey! You’re getting it!” Gina praises, as Ricky manages to get through the box step, only stepping on her three times.

He looks up from watching his feet to find her beaming brightly at him. The air is all but knocked out of his lungs and his palms are sweating and his head feels dizzy and _god, he loves her so much_ , he thinks his chest is going to erupt. “You think?”

“Uh-huh, you’re gonna outshine everyone at Prom.”

“Our dance moves will have everyone _wishing_ they were us.”

“‘Our’?”

He could back out now, pretend it was a mistake, a slip of the tongue, but with the way Gina was looking at him, hopeful, like she wants him to have meant it, he doesn’t. “Our,” he reiterates.

If possible, her smile widens. “You have something to ask me, Bowen?”

“Actually, yeah, I do.” He takes a breath. “Gina, I like you. Like, _really_ like you. And I would like nothing more than to take you to Prom with me. Also, you’re basically perfect, in every way and I’m so lucky you don’t have a Jim that’s gonna chase me away right now because I am definitely Lloyd and you are way out of my league,” he chuckles nervously.

“Like _The Notebook_ ,” she croons.

Ricky’s eyebrows furrow. “Now I’m convinced you’re just trolling me.”

“Oh, I am,” she admits through a laugh. “But, I really like you too, Ricky. In case that wasn’t clear.”

His cheeks hurt from how much he’s smiling right now. “I _knew_ you were interested in me!” He picks Gina up and spins her around as she screams into his shoulder to put her down. “ _That’s_ why you wanted me in your house when no one else was around, huh.”

“Oh, I take it back now,” she jokes, once her feet are safely back on the ground. Just when Ricky thought he could not have anymore room in his heart for her.

“Too late now, Porter.”

“Yeah?”

He nods. “Yeah. Because I’m gonna kiss you now.” Ricky doesn’t wait for her to give a response. He grabs her face in both hands and presses his lips against hers. The feeling is exhilirating, his chest feels like it’s about to burst right open and he’s running out of breath but he doesn’t want to stop. Besides, what’s a little oxygen in the grand scheme of things?

“So…” he chuckles, forehead pressed against Gina’s, when the need for air becomes to strong for him to ignore. “Prom?”

She nods her head furiously, chest heaving, breathing heavy. “Just kiss me again.”

He does.

_It’s one in a million_

_The chances of feeling_

_The way we do_


End file.
